Election campaigning is now in full swing with new policies being announced daily. Since Covid-19 is such a key concern for voters, we can expect political parties to firm up their positions on how to manage the pandemic over the coming weeks.
The range of different strategies being used around the world to fight the virus – along with the benefit of time – are enabling predictions to be made about the best way forward.
The Vice-Provost of the University College of London, Dr David Lomas – a clinical academic with 35 years of experience as a respiratory physician – has outlined four different scenarios that could end the pandemic.
Firstly, a vaccine could be developed. While over 170 companies are now working on vaccine development, with three large scale clinical trials presently underway, because this process typically takes four years he believes a vaccine is unlikely to lead us out of the current crisis.
Secondly, Covid-19 could lose its infectivity. While the virus responsible for the deadly Spanish flu outbreak in 1918 appears to have lost its virulence leading to that pandemic petering out, since coronaviruses do not mutate as quickly as influenza viruses he believes this outcome is unlikely.
Thirdly, we could develop herd immunity. For this to happen, not only would a majority of the population – an estimated 62 percent – need to have contracted and recovered from the virus, but the immunity they gained would need to be long-lasting.
Fourthly, the virus could become endemic. In this case, the virus would circulate within the community with intermittent flare ups that are managed through local responses.
Dr Lomas believes this latter option of learning to live with Covid-19 is the most likely scenario.
The World Health Organisation has also outlined some thoughts about the future.
They are now strongly recommending against government lockdowns as they believe the toll on livelihoods, economies and mental health is too high. Accordingly, their recommendations ensure economies and societies remain open, with children at school and people at work.
But they make the point that since the pandemic is now being driven by mostly younger people in their 20s, 30s and 40s who don’t develop symptoms and don’t know they have the virus, there is an increasing risk of infection of society’s most vulnerable: “the elderly, the sick, people in long-term care, people who live in densely populated urban areas, and those who live in rural areas with limited health care”.
They also stress that since Covid-19 spreads so easily and can be fatal, countries opening up must be serious about supressing transmission: “Opening up without having control is a recipe for disaster”.
The WHO outlines four essential steps that all countries, communities and individuals must focus on in order to control the spread of Covid-19.
The first is preventing what they call “amplifying events”. Because the virus spreads so readily amongst clusters gathered at stadiums, nightclubs, places of worship, weddings, funerals, on buses, trains, and in other crowded places, if there is the possibility of an outbreak, creative ways of reducing the risk must be found if such events are to go ahead safely – such as wearing masks on public transport and screening movies at drive-ins instead of theatres.
Second, the government must prioritise protecting vulnerable groups, including older people and those with underlying health conditions.
Third, individuals need to play their part by staying at least a metre away from others, washing hands regularly, practicing respiratory etiquette (coughing into your elbow), and wearing a mask. Their advice is to avoid the three Cs – closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings.
And, fourthly, governments must find, isolate, test and care for cases, and trace and quarantine contacts.
The WHO believes that following these four steps will eliminate the need for lockdowns. In other words, they believe we have to learn to live with Covid-19, keeping our societies as open as possible while breaking chains of transmission and controlling the infection in order to do “the least damage to our society but the most damage to the virus”.
This is contrary to the approach taken in New Zealand back in March. While it was successful in doing ‘the most damage to the virus’, it was spectacularly unsuccessful in doing ‘the least damage to society’.
Our lockdown remains one of the most heavy handed approaches taken by any government in the world. That’s why the consequences have been so severe – not just in terms of business failures and rising unemployment, but in people becoming sick or dying because they were denied the health care they needed.
This week’s Guest Commentator journalist Steve Waterson, an editor at The Australian who worked in Auckland for over a decade as the New Zealand Editor for Time Magazine, is scathing about the heavy-handed approach taken by politicians:
“New Zealand is lauded as the perfect example of how to crush the virus, but would anyone be surprised if it too has to pay the price somewhere down the line? Four new cases locked down the 1.6 million inhabitants of Auckland in a monstrously excessive overreaction that would be comical were it not so destructive.
“Meanwhile, the rest of New Zealand has shut down so completely it has effectively removed itself as a nation from the international community. It’s as though the country had never existed. Soon it will be reduced to a fading Cheshire Cat image of its Prime Minister’s saintly sad face.
“Let’s hope for the Kiwis’, and everyone else’s, sake a vaccine is found soon, although the World Health Organisation now warns we may never have one.
“It’s a tired line to repeat, but even after 40-odd years of searching, we don’t have one for HIV-AIDS… Which, if anyone needs reminding, still kills 2,600 people a day.”
Like many others around the world, while in lockdown Steve had to watch on from afar as his elderly father had a fall, was taken into hospital, then a rest home, and without the support of family and friends, sadly, passed away. His story epitomises the inhumanity of lockdowns.
While each country has to find its own way of living with the virus, we can learn from each other.
Sweden took a different approach by using voluntary constraints rather than the totalitarian controls favoured by our government. While the number of fatalities is relatively high, most of their deaths can be linked to the unfortunate spread of the virus into some of their large rest homes during the early stages of the pandemic. They have, however, avoided most of the other disastrous repercussions of lockdowns.
Norway imposed intrusive lockdown restrictions on the basis of academic modelling. Their health agency had recommended against such harsh measures, especially as the number of infections was already coming under control before the shutdown was imposed. Their director of public health now believes the information they relied on was inaccurate, and if there is another outbreak, they would “find instruments that are more gentle and more flexible”.
It was a similar situation in New Zealand. Our Government ignored advice from the Ministry of Health and imposed their harsh Level 4 lockdown based on flawed academic modelling.
But what is even more disappointing is that they appear to have learnt nothing from their lockdown mistakes, so when Alert Level 3 was imposed on Auckland last month, instead of more sensible restrictions, there was little change. As a result, the damage to Auckland has been more severe than it needed to be.
A new analysis from the Wall Street Journal finds it is the draconian restrictions imposed by governments around the world that have created the deepest peacetime slump since the Great Depression..
The article provides some interesting statistics.
In the US, nursing homes account for 0.6 percent of the population, but 45 percent of Covid fatalities. Fewer children have died this year from the virus than from flu.
Studies from Sweden, where most schools stayed open, and the Netherlands, where they reopened in May, found teachers at no greater risk from the virus than the overall population. This suggests that operating schools with protective measures in place will not worsen the epidemic but will alleviate the toll on working parents and children.
In Japan, bars and restaurants accounted for 16 percent of Covid-19 clusters, while workplaces accounted for just 11 percent. In the US State of Louisiana, bars, restaurants and casinos accounted for 32 percent of cluster infections.
The article finds “Masks may be the most cost-effective intervention of all… The German city of Jena in early April ordered residents to wear masks in public places, public transit and at work. Soon afterward, infections came to a halt. Comparing it to similar cities, a study… estimated masks reduced the growth of infections by 40 to 60 percent.”
They predict innovative testing methods could enable economies to re-open safely without a vaccine. One such development is a paper-strip test that can detect the virus in saliva within minutes. It is thought that if 50 to 60 percent of the population in hot spots regularly took such a test, the disease could be suppressed without the need for draconian lock-down measures.
A plan for shutting down infections, without shutting down economies has been outlined by a team from Harvard University. Through social distancing, the wearing of masks, limiting the size of group activities – especially indoors – but allowing schools to remain open, increasing testing and quarantining, and enhancing protections for the elderly, they believe economies could remain open with limited deaths.
When California’s cases surged after their lockdown was lifted, mask wearing was encouraged, indoor activities at restaurants, bars, museums, zoos and movie theatres were closed, but outdoor activities and elective surgery remained unrestricted. The result was a drop in cases and a 35 percent decline in hospitalisations.
It’s a similar story in Arizona – after stay-at-home orders were lifted in early May, cases soared, but once masks were worn, indoor businesses like bars, gyms, and movie theatres closed, restaurants operated at no more than 50 percent capacity, and gatherings were restricted to 50 or fewer, cases and hospitalisations fell sharply.
According to the Washington Post, Arizona is also leading the way in using wastewater testing to keep their economy more open economy, with the University of Arizona finding and stopping a Covid-19 outbreak before it even happened!
The University, which is trialling a mix of online and in-person courses — elected to test sewage from all 20 halls of residence once students returned to the campus. When a wastewater sample from one dorm came back positive, all 311 people who live and work there were tested. It turned out that two asymptomatic students were positive. They were quickly quarantined, and contact tracing and testing began, halting the spread of the virus before a major outbreak threatened all 5,000 students.
New Zealand has also been trialling wastewater testing for Covid-19. This raised speculation that it was the finding of positive samples that had led to the government suddenly promoting mask wearing as we approached 100 Covid-free days – just ahead of the Auckland community outbreak being announced. While this has been denied, the technology, nevertheless, should be able to provide another layer of defence through early detection protocols.
In fact, with rest homes housing some of New Zealand’s most vulnerable residents, surely regular wastewater testing of these facilities should be prioritised in order to identify cases as soon as they appear and head off life-threatening outbreaks.
Meanwhile, although a vaccine remains elusive, progress is being made on the treatment of critically ill Covid-19 patients, with the WHO now recommending the use of corticosteroids to reduce the inflammatory response associated with cytokine storm syndrome. Many other promising treatments are in the trial phase and are expected to be recommended soon.
To date our politicians have not explained how they think New Zealand can “live” with Covid-19. Most seem to think a vaccine will ‘save’ us, but with few experts suggesting that is realistic, we await their policy releases with interest!
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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*Do you believe a vaccine will end the pandemic or will we have to learn to live with Covid-19?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| No virus has ever been totally wiped out by a vaccine | Alan |
| Lockdown doesn’t work brain dead government | John |
| I never agreed with Lockdown from the day it was announced but Comrade Ardern will never admit to making a disastrous decision. She and her govt. have been a disaster from the beginning but then Communism is the virus and Covid 19 is the method of spread so she has been successful in her ‘stupidity’ in destroying the economy. | Monica |
| A vaccine will help if one is produced, but the economy can’t wait for one. | David |
| Seems like our socialist govt has seized on the situation to further their own agenda, creating a fear-based society who must not think for themselves. | Susan |
| Time to forget about ‘Taxinda in Wonderland’ and rejoin the real world | Steve |
| Its a scamdemic. | Robert |
| This is not going to go away. A lot now think this has been promoted and is not an accidental outbreak. | Alan |
| By the time a vaccine is available, Covid19 will have mutated significantly. It is already doing so and decreasing in severity. We have to learn to live with it as with any other ‘flu, or destroy our economy.. | kris |
| we have been too slow at the borders but we have learned some lessons now and one of them is that the world must learn to live with covid 19 and there will be another virus sometime in the future to deal with | Barry |
| If we had treated the UNREMARKABLE SARS (CoV)-2 virus like the FLU virus that it is and given it the same treatment that we give the REMARKABLE Influenza-A virus every year; we would not be entering the initial phases of a Depression generated by the fools, morons, devious and deceitful people that govern us. Nationally and Internationally. As Sir John Key said, “New Zealand does not have a health crisis it has an economic crisis.” This economic crisis has been embraced and driven by the current Socialist Government and politicised with outstanding expertise. Still this is the case in Australia and most Western Democracies. If health liability is not passed back to the individual in a normal manner and inaccurate testing regimes are not banned then we will continue the spiral to Depression. Identified following the collapse of small business companies on a wide scale. It is happening now! One does get exhausted writing the truth because the political system has effectively blocked debate. Like the figures for seasonal Flu over the last 10 years AUS 9,000 deaths and NZ 1,000 deaths. Such realities identify the benign nature of Covid 19 when considered objectively. So here is the next consult for the Depression to come. The signs will be the bankruptcy of thousands of small businesses; rapid rising job losses passed 10% and rising, substantial bank foreclosures against private home owners unable to repay mortgages, investors withdrawing from the stock markets overnight, private equity companies withholding investment and banks and financiers refusing to provide large debt based products for commercial entities. Some smaller Banks may reach a state of collapse. Due to the destructive impact on the private sector and the refusal of governments to remove the power over us that Covid 19 has given them the possibility of civil war is entirely possible. We should now be selecting the best large areas like stadiums, race courses, sports grounds etc. that can accommodate thousands of Tents. Many of these Venues have kitchens that could be upgraded to provide mass meal services to the Food Lines of the near future. In layman’s terms, We are in serious Shit! We must change direction. | Frederick |
| What vaccine? This is not one! | Peter |
| May be it’s time to educate people on how to eat healthy food that builds us up rather than junk food that fills them up. Schools should have to teach nutrition and practice it in their lunch programmes. You never hear these clever academics talk about how to keep your body well. Incidentally, that’s my responsibility to keep myself well, by diet, what you speak over yourself,your lifestyle. | Ethne |
| We have never had a vaccine against previous corona viruses, why do we think that there will be any now. If a vaccine is declared effective the virus will have mutated and be ineffective. That is what we have never had a vaccine for a corona virus. | Huria |
| We lived with Tapanui Flu, it was serious, folk were affected for months , even years. Covid is no worse but we didn’t shut down the country, lock-down people or believe in a ‘Gate’s vaccine profiteering program to cure it. Forget the vaccine, live with a new strain of flu and avoid the lunacy of panicked reliance on BS and communism a la UN style.. | Bryan |
| You can not stop a Virus no matter how draconian the measures are. Bottom line. | Geoff |
| Based on historical precedents to date this is the obvious conclusion – obvious to most intelligent folk which clearly excludes our politicians!! | Mark |
| Take the simple precautions, hand washing in particular, and abstain from people who cough. Best we can do! | Dick |
| it was always this way forward | barry |
| AMDG There are multiple causes of this Coronavirus panic. One is bad science that has been allowed to perpetuate for over 100 years because it is a profit making factory. The concept of viruses was developed long before we had the technology to visualise them. However, even after so-called viral particles were photographed using electron microscopy the science has never shown them to be the cause of disease as proven through isolation, purification and re-infection. They neither meet Koch’s postulates for infectious disease, nor River’s modified version of Koch’s postulates. These are logical postulates which do not change and are required to prove the existence of an infectious illness. Recent scientific discoveries have focused on exosomes, cellular vessicles containing RNA and/or DNA that is shared between cells for the purpose of communication and the removal of toxins. They come as different particle sizes with different characteristics depending upon the message being sent. The RNA/DNA inside them changes according to the message being sent. They are present in people who are experiencing the same cellular abnormalities. These people are often sharing a common environment and being exposed to the same toxins, hence why many people (but not necessarily all) of the same household will develop similar symptoms and produce similar exosomes that are wrongly being interpreted as being infectious entities. If they were infectious then 100% of the people on the various cruise liners that were quarantined for COVID-19 would’ve tested positive for it. However, even people in the same rooms for all that time would have different test results and the overall illness rates were well below 40%. Their RNA and DNA cores are used for intercellular messaging. The packaged messages change according to what the cell wants to communicate. These messages are difficult to trace back to our own DNA structure because of the variety of post-translational modifications applied to them before they are packaged into cellular vesicles and released elsewhere. This is why so-called virus are supposedly constantly mutating. The second cause is a complete loss of belief in the creator who made men from nothing and sent his only son to redeem them from their sins. To such apostates this life is all that exists and they will sacrifice their liberty and freedom out of fear for their own lives. This is completely contrary to the behaviour of our ancestors who believed in God and a life after this one and weren’t afraid to sacrifice all for his service. This loss of Faith accelerated following the revolt of Martin Luther and the Princes of Europe in the middle ages and is near its climax 60 years after the false Council of Vatican II which ushered in a revolution led by modernist heretics within the Catholic Church and the abolition of the true sacrifice of the Mass in the 1960s that removed the greatest source of grace from the world and has led this widespread global apostasy. This world is almost a material paradise for many, but it is a spiritual desert in which most men are starving for grace and even the natural law must be destroyed. All that is supernaturally good has been overthrown. Now all that is naturally good will follow unless men start praying and turning their wills back to God. | Hunter |
| smallpox is the only virus ever to have been eliminated, the best that a vaccine might provide is a reduction in infection | alan |
| A vaccine won’t happen for years so we have to learn, intelligently and empathetically, to live with it – masks are essential and should be made mandatory everywhere in NZ | Kerin |
| If we practice self-protection effectively we will have a chance of rebuilding the economy. Ardern is dreaming if she thinks that we can eliminate the virus. She clearly hasn’t understood the impact that lockdowns have on health and wellbeing, let alone individual financial outcomes. | Kerry |
| I’m aghast at how easily people, particularly in NZ, meekly fell into line. Propaganderising fear is a powerful tool, and Ardern andcomrades have used it to full effect. I lost my elderly mother during the second lock down. She was in a RH in Tauranga. I live in Auckland but managed to get to her funeral due to the help of others. My exemption came through 2 hours before her service. She was not ill, just elderly, but the lock downs affected her greatly – she was very upset that no one could visit her, and she was frightened due to all the negative fear-mongering media coverage. I believe she checked out, she’d had enough. She passed in her sleep. But, in my mind, along with untold deaths not due to Covid but to non-treatment for other more dire health conditions, yet another unaccountable loss due to how cruelly this government is welding it’s seemingly unstoppable power. | Sharen |
| I think a Vaccine is a long way off so we need to learn to live with Covid | Laurel |
| Like the common cold the chance of a vaccine can Jantzen encouraging | Bryan |
| The time line for a vaccine is simply too long, along with the fact that there will need to be a heavy assurance plan to the community if the vaccine is to be accepted. This includes the vectors for the vaccine, as well as the stuff itself. | Dave |
| Certainly no vaccine fix in the short term | Albert |
| Lots of very sensible comments here. Makes you wonder who the media poll when they say almost all kiwis support this governments response. Or are readers here not representative of your average kiwi. I’m dumbfounded and getting angrier by the day ! | Deborah |
| No vaccine has bWhat makes one think that a vaccine can be found for Covid 19. It takes at least 4 years to develop a safe vaccine and that is a long time to wait with borders closed and isolated from the rest of the world waiting to see if a vaccine can be found. | Trevor |
| The real damage of the pandemic is the destruction of our rights, our livelihoods and mental health… Ironically, as others have previously noted, Covid19 DOES NOT actually meet the definition of pandemic that the UN currently has. | Chris |
| $12M slogans and catch-cries, delivered with “the cat’s got the cream’ smile and a marxist oriented society has done nothing to “eradicate” this virus. Amid constant cries that the actions taken and enforced by police have been based on science, they fail to recognise the fact that after hundreds of years and the investment of billions of research dollars, we are as close to eradicating the common cold and influenza as we were following the 1889-1895 Russian Flu Pandemic. Sure we have the annual flu vaccine that is trying to activate the human immune system against the latest mutation of the virus, but next year there has to be another version. Are we to believe that a vaccine will end the COVID-19 virus when we can’t defeat the flu or cold viruses? Those that ignore history are bound to repeat it. If we New Zealanders are not to become a bunch of hermits living in splendid isolation oblivious to the rest of the world and humanity (this may suit the Greens who would have us back rot the stone-age if the could – except for those of us who “have to attend” those important UN conferences in all the exotic venues they choose), we had better start to learn how to live with it as we do the flu and colds. We should not that the Otago University Research unit found that in 2018-19 we had over 200,000 plus victims of the flu, of which 300-400 died, and all without a day-by-day report about it or a hint of a shutdown of the country. As Mr Waterson says and epidemic of stupidity! | Michael |
| it takes years to trial vaccines We just need to try to lessen the worst of it and accept there will be deaths as with all influenzas, diseases etc | Vicki |
| No vaccine is complete | Kevin |
| There will be a vaccine that will be widely used in Western countries. It may not be totally effective against all strains of the virus. However, it will effectively end the pandemic because the world will open up again – and accept any residual risks. | Maurice |
| HERD IMMUNITY description misused in some replies. To gain an immunity, one has to be infected with some bug to which your own body can develop an immunity. Subject under discussion is currently Covid 19 Thus far there have been no definite personal antibodies at all as a result of this virus…Right? As reported in world press that has not yet happened. IF and it is only IF, victims can indeed have a (mild??) case of Covid, RESULTING in the production of their own antibodies in their bloodstream, then you just may have a starting point. From what I have read, that has not yet happened, though some experiments are being conducted to determine if anyone has got “antibodies” in their plasma as a result of their own personal infection. No reported success thus far. If someone is waiting for Herd Immunity, buddy, that could take a very very long time indeed….. Got that? | Mabel |
| The scientists cannot even find a cure for the common cold ? And even if they do find a vaccine it will be at least two years before it becomes available. | Wayne |
| It is just a flu, we live with other flu viruses and many other diseases without mass panic and mass lockdowns. Something rotten in the state of.. methinks | Wayne |
| While it would beget to see a vaccine….CV-19 is a relative of the common cold, and we Don’t have one for that yet… | Lionel |
| We still cant cure the common cold, so why do people think we can find a magic cure for Covid19? Is this another way for the companies making a so called vaccine to make millions or billions again? When will people wake up and realise Saint Jacinda will not save us but bugger the country. | Fraser |
| Having the general public wear masks is a big experiment. We don’t know the true physical/psychological effects or how effective wearing the masks are. | Marie |
| The teachers union want their tax payer paid holiday to be extended – stuff everyone else! Jacinda will be obliged to pander to her major voter block. There was a well thought out plan in place ready for such a viral attack but the PM once again said she knew better and devised another plan than was flawed – you get what you vote for! Even when they know the plan is bad Jacinda will hold fast to it other than lose face. NZ politicians are never held to account! | Rex |
| Viruses, bacteria, fungi, worms, cancer, etc… are part of us forever. The best solution to be well is strong immune system. To achieve that we need positive thinking, more sun exposure, more oxygen intake, good sleep, quality water and food without chemicals and GMO and less pollution EMF, WiFi, 4G, 5G, TV, computers, phones | Hubert |
| Personal life style responsibility ensures one does not come in contact with many of the other viruses we currently live with for which there is no vaccine. The lack of leadership in politicians here in New Zealand and around the world that gave in to panic is incredulous. Sweden did it their way, that’s leadership and courage. . | Sam |
| Since when has a vaccine ended anything? | Caroline |
| It may take years for a suitable vaccine to transition from laboratory to market. In the meantime we have to learn to live with the virus and adapt as new information becomes available. Concentrate on protecting the vulnerable and normalising life for the rest of the population. Hysteria has no place in containing this infection. | Lee |
| Hopefully a vaccine will stop you getting the virus. However it will not eradicate it entirely as there are people who will refuse to be vaccinated. | Dennis |
| Unfortunately, the country is being run by academics who haven’t got a clue what they are doing, a degree in communications is hardly a qualification to give in depth advice on the virus, not listening to advice from the Ministry of health, a we know best attitude, complete arrogance, and ignorance of what’s happening to the country financially, printing money as thought it’s going out of fashion, and when they can no longer hide the fact that they have made one colossal mess they’ll hand the reigns over to a conservative party to go in and clean up once again. These people should never be allowed to get near the levers of power ever again, they are just stupid and ignorant. Non productive members of society. | Merryl |
| Far too little has been to done to explore effective treatments for Covid-19 and more should be done asap | Roger |
| Unless there is a so-far-unforseen breakthrough in a vaccine we absolutely must “learn to live with it.” Increased use of masks in public places would be one of the useful strategies. | Rob |
| There is unlikely to be an effective vaccine and so we must learn to live with it just like all the others that have come along in the past and will again in the future | Robin |
| I believe we should make wearing a mask for anyone going into a shop,on buses,supermarket a rule-NO MASK NO ENTRY like ALOT of countries have done,wash hands a lot with soap,keep a limit of 50-100 people at BIG gatherings,common sense keeping apart from others will keep NZealanders safe BUT OUR BORDERS NEED TESTING CONTROL OVER THOSE ENTERING MUST BE STRONG.NO MORE EXCUSES FROM LABOUR,They ONLY EXIST WITH OUR TAX MONEY & its time they ruled for ALL NZ NOT just ONE KIND like they have been doing.There,s MORE other races in NZ & they don’t want special things like the ONE jacinda is giving things to. | Cindy |
| There are so many anti-vaccers in society mostly interested in themselves ONLY just like most other world wide vaccines – so hopefully natural immunity will spread and achieve an acceptable result. | Stuart |
| God is the answer to all our problems ultimately. but we still have to respond sensibly. Until He starts healing this virus openly we must assume that He has a different plan and timing and not behave stupidly or carelessly for everyones sake. | Harvey |
| It may end the pandemic but we may still have to live with it in some form as we do with ordinary flu. | Brian |
| There is a lack of thought being applied by individuals. e.g. driving alone with masks on, walking in the fresh air with masks, while others congregate in busy places or party without protecting themselves or others.God can heal anything , anytime but I have not heard of any current healings from this virus, so it is presumption to act carelessly. risking the well-being of others as well. | Harvey |
| Unfortunately no. People travel and the virus gets a free ride. | Brian |
| we have faced numerous high transmissible diseases over the decade and some have nearly been eradicated i.e. measles, There is no reason to believe at this stage C19 will be any different. | Peter |
| As most people are aware the ‘vaccine’ will do nothing to stop covid-1984 but WILL stop our freedom and with the change of our RNA who’s to say what will become of us 10-20-50 years later? | Sherrin |
| This is not going to go away but we maybe able to control it | Peter |
| Check the science. there is no scientifically established proof that Covid-19 exists. The ‘flu and corona virus exists but the so-called pandemic the media push has no evidential base. The PCR test does not establish proof of a covid infection – it was not designed for that purpose. Neil Ferguson’s epidemic figures were totally false. There can be no real vaccine for an imaginary virus – except for those making money from such a scheme. | Chris |
| no vaccine we will have to live with it ! | Cynthia |
| This is a virus like the flu, must learn to control it and protect vulnerable population | Chris |
| Learn to live with it or in some cases worse. | Ray |
| An excellent analysis | Maurice |
| The likelihood of a safe and effective vaccine in the near future is a forlorn hope. We must learn to live with the virus, using means such as mask-wearing, social distancing, personal hygiene, and ongoing testing. In other words, ‘taking personal responsibility’ for our own protection and for the safety of others. | Laurence |
| …infection control on a personal and social level. Always wins..Common Sense and Keep it simple…Lets get back to living this Life. | Chris |
| Open up the borders before the economy collapses and we end a banana republic. | Carl |
| We have learned to live with the flu with quite high loss of life. Vaccine can back that up as well. Perhaps covid can be managed for the near/medium future? | Tim |
| Even if there is a vaccine, it is unlikely to be 100% effective and viruses do mutate. | Mark |
| We will have to live with it till a vaccine arrives, but then it only kills a few of us and then it seems only those who are not that well. I’m 80 and I think let it run. | Eric |
| Live with Covid-19 just like we live with the flue? These questions are exactly what our psychopathic puppet masters are wanting us to ask? It keeps us distracted from their plans to ramp up draconian control of society and we are playing right into their hands. Until we stand our ground and expose the lies and deceptions being forced upon us, there will be no end to the permutations of response to this manufactured diseases called covid19. The state is no longer our friend, any of the UN bodies are definitely not our friends. The Crown only sees us as financial instruments to feather their nests. It’s time to stand together against this tyranny. | Rossco |
| It is unrealist and economically damaging to NZ’ers to have them live in fear of a vaccine not arriving and thus putting the country and themselves on hold in anticipation | Carolyn |
| But impossible to see the world population all vaccinated | Hugh |
| What a dam’fool question!!!! Which only a well qualified scientist ought to put, or to attempt to answer. This is a reflection of the equally deluded and definitely misguided Q/A commentrs from a group in Mt Roskill who seem to be completely detached from reality, and their duty to their neighbours to NOT infect whole swathes of the Auckland suburbs. Thanks for Nothing to that bunch for their deinal of reality and for forcing us all to copntinue live with the risk of Covid 19 before we have ANY MEANS WHATSOEVER TO TREAT IT except for responding symptomatically to what presents to the Doctors and Hospitals. Sure some pleople survive, but there are no recognised antibodies yet, are there? One of my friends who is old enough to know better said “If I get Covid I shall just go to the hospital and go onto a respirator until I am better.” Well, I;ve got news for you hunny bunny, …..you’re too OLD to even be offered a respirator.! There is a point at which there is nothing much left to save. This is a potentially deadly disease and unless a vaccine is found, or discovered,and indeed perfected, soon, the future for many millions will be somewhat uncertain. Oh do get real out there!!!!! Yes, the rules are to be obeyed for the good of us all, and we wait for the scientists to devise a vaccine. Which they will.. Eventually. | Mabel |
| Many nasty diseases are circulating somewhere in the world even those that a vaccine has been available for many years. Also young healthy people who are asymptomatic or experience mild symptoms can help grow the “Herd immunity” The virus becomes self limiting. | Evelyn |
| …did Cindy ever manage to have her pay cut in sympathy with those loosing their jobs? Answer, I thought not – she is so full of sh1t. I can’t bear to see her on the telly, she makes me want to vomit. I am sure I am not alone in that! | LUKE |
| No brainer!! – its the economy stupid!! that counts most. | Jim |
| GET A LIVE – LEARN, ADJUST & UTILISE THE BEST INFORMATION. IT IS HERE TO STAY FOR A WHILE. | SHERYL |
| There is no need for a vaccine now we know that the Zelenko protocol is effective. | David |
| We have vaccines for most viruses so I hope it will be the same again | alan |
| We must learn to live with it as it will be some time before the vaccine emerges. Will be good practice before another virus emerges. | jill |
| vaccines are only 75% effective. People can get infected more than once. Then we have the anti vaccination. The virus can mutate for worse. | luciane |
| hope so but not sure | norman |
| This scenario has been obvious from the outset. Those of us who are a little older than 50 know that there have been diseases no less contagious than CV. The world reaction shows how wisdom & knowledge has been taken over by hysteria & virtual signalling in order to gain kudos. | Heather |
| Coronavirus is belongs to the Common cold family and there is no immunity against the common cold, one can get the a cold up to 80 times and not one cold would be the same. | don |
| Humans have diseases – get over it and learn to cope with reality. | Gary |
| Unless it’s mandatory, some people won’t get the vaccine. | Sheena |
| Not having anything to do with vaccines for anything. Most people now understand that vaccine manufacturers are indemnified against bad effects or even death resulting from vaccine reaction. Gates is the most dangerous in this respect, and it is rumoured that he has been to NZ to do “deals” with his buddy Jacinda, peddling his Maderna sourced poisons. The availability of effective treatments has been ignored by NZ health “experts” which is criminal and smacks of corruption to the core. Yes, everyone knows what I am talking about, Hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin being the two specifics. If this corrupt government thinks that the population will “submit” to poisonous and questionable vaccines, they can think again! | Neil |
| I think time will show how wrong Cindy was to ignore the health dept advice earlier on. The facts are slowly emerging about how lockdowns are not the right call. I suspect this government has stuffed up again. | Peter |
| There has been no safe effective vaccine developed against any Coronavirus., and some of the DNA/via RNA altering attempts are incredibly dangerous. We must live with the virus, take care of the susceptible but give them the choice of whether to live a secluded or normal life. The protective measure suggested by WHO etc will end the orchestral concert, chamber music concerts, theatre plays, operas ..and the jobs of all those amazingly skilled, talented people .. and the centuries of European etc civilization which has developed them. An unprecedented disaster., | Rochelle |
| We will have to learn to live with COVID-19 and the sooner we do the better the socio-economic outcome | Kevin |
| we have to get on business is dying now thanks to the severe lockdowns. we cant go on like this | michael |
| Vaccines are not the answer they have up to now been effective to only about 40% even Fauci says he would be pleased with 60- 70% effectiveness with a CV19 vaccine Moderna these vaccines are being pushed through cutting out many safety tests in the pursuit of being 1st for the profits at the expense of public safety. You just have to look at the safety record of all the vaccines out there the most recent one in the news is oral polio vaccines are causing polio outbreaks in the Sudan. There are plenty of other successful therapies out there i.e Hydroxychloroquine with zinc for one, that are being used to treat people now, but governments are under the thumb of the pharmaceutical companies to use their drugs. | Vaughan |
| SOMETIMES THE BARK !! IS WORSE THAN THE BITE. LEARN TO LIVE WITH THE BASTED. | Colin |
| If a vaccine is developed, it is highly likely that Covid-19 disease will be replaced with vaccine-induced illness. | Alan |
| there will be no vaccine | norm |
| Let us move on so we can live with it | RICHard |
| While we have bloody minded deniers, religious fanatics ,anti vaxers ,pigheadedness and plain stupidity abounding this virus and derivatives are here to stay. | Max |
| AlsoHydroxi chlorine quinone, zinc and the third ingredient (zirconium?) It is proven that that works by a whole host of doctors in America. But, unfortunately, the big pharma doesn’t earn anything out if it, it tries to let us believe ” it does not work” | Peter |
| I believe we are certain to have this virus around for ever, just like the flu of old.if you get it then you get it the end is close? | james |
| I think we will get a vaccine eventually but we will still have Covid 19 in the community. | Paloma |
| Even the dullest intellect must realise there is no SARS or MERS vaccine that has been developed and both are Corona viruses Humanity is learning to live with and this Corona Virus will end up being the same as by the time a safe fully tested vaccine if this occurs has arrived we will indeed be living with this virus and desperately hoping that the planning wonks in the heath dept have done their job and have a sensible process in place that can be implemented immediately without political interference | Phil |
| A vaccine will eventually be found, nothing surer. But it is needed now. Governments have no idea how to handle this and ours heads the list of those. Our country is way too small to easily recover from the financial and psychological effects of the pandemic. It was inevitable that hindsight would produce advice as to what should have been done. But one has to ask was the country wide lock down the correct response, were the effects of a lock down considered sufficient to initiate a lock down. One also must ask if the government has some other motive for letting the country self destruct. Time will tell. | Ray S |
| And make Hydroxychloroquine readily available.Or at least allow Doctors to prescribe to their patients. | Hans |
| This virus, we will need to live with it. | Darryl |
| Provided it is compulsory for everyone. | Terry |
| I feel it will be like the flu here and ever changing. | Carl |
| Like all flu epidemic, it is just not one strain, and Covid is the same. This will be with us for some year or so to come. Try harder NZ. It%u2019s not going away. | Robyn |
| A dangerous version of the common cold which scientists confirm is now more contagious than the original Wuhan version but far less deadly as the virus mutates to preserve its own long term survival. | Chris |
| This virus is constantly mutating and I believe we’re just going to accept it and learn to alter our lifestyle accordingly. | Tony |
| There is much more going on behind the scenes that we realise. Having said that, the fact remains that we are stuck with it and we need to accept that no vaccine can save us, even if one was readily available, so we will have to learn to live with this so-called pandemic, in the same way that we have done, with others in the past. To be brutally frank, based on my own research into vaccines and what they shove into them, I would not touch them with a dung fork – particularly those emanating from (drum roll!) – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, based on their track record, in India and Africa. We are going to need every ounce of our Kiwi initiative and resilience to pull ourselves out of this mess, which is only just beginning, IMHO. | Scott |
| this is going to be some thing we live with vaccine will not solve the virus because there are so many of us that will not have it | Russell |
| Dream on! We have not beaten any viruses yet, we will either learn to live with this one, or we will die from it. Doctors playing at God won’t pull our irons out of this fire. | TOBY |
| No effective vaccine .learn to live with it until it mutates | jeff |
| No Vaccine will be 100% effective | Merv |
| This virus has a number of different ways of spreading the disease necessitating a number of different vaccine’s which is not possible | Tom |
| The vaxine is not to cure the pandemic bit to raise the resistance to it | David |
| We haven’t been able to defeat the common Flu, given Covid-19 is just a novel Flu then why would we expect to be able to achieve what haven’t been able to achieve to date ? | john |
| Just like we live with Flu for which there is a vaccine. | Murray |
| not really sure which way to go on this poll. | john |
| It’s blatantly obvious, and others will surely follow. | Bruce |
| Vaccines are Business driven and require years of testing notwithstanding the adverse reaction potential and moral implications of knowing the ingredients and where they are derived from. Humanity has lived with Corona viruses (remember cold, flu and H1N1 2009) for a long time. PCR testing is questionable and Doctors have reasonable evidence of regular medicine dealing with the virus. | John |
| Yes it will | Graeme |
| Time now for development of simple saliva test and quarantine of the virus infected and contacts. We will have to live with masking and distancing for at least five years. Gatherings in churches, pub, night clubs etc must stop, yes they will suffer economically but better a few than the whole country collapsing. Time now for massive investment into public health. | Chris |
| Live with it like every other virus the world has ever known | George |
| I believe Covid will be like the flu in that it will mutate annually, and that any vaccine if developed successfully will deal with some forms of Covid but not others. Therefore we need a plan to deal with and live with Covid. We cannot continue with ruinous lockdowns. | Brenton |
| Even if a vaccine is developed we will still have to live with the virus as we do with the flue. What’s wrong with Judith Collins and National? Why is she not hammering Jacinda on her demonstrable failure of eradication of Covid and the irreparable damage that’s done to our economy? Why is she continuing to subscribe to the UN line on climate change and carbon taxes on farmers? Clearly we need a new party in this country to promote the interests of those outside Auckland and Wellington, our rural communities. With the exception of the quality of the the candidates there is effectively little difference between National and Labour. They are both well left of centre! | Alan |
| Figure we will have to live with it as some will refuse to take the vaccine. Maybe like polio it will wipe it out in time. But other strains will come. China will be emboldened by this. A new weapon for their arsenal. | Graeme |
| It will not go away permanently | John |
| No vaccine for me | Greg |
| I am in the vulnerable target age but I believe we should open up the country and the economy and try to recover as best we can. Albeit with measures to isolate to protect the vulnerable sectors of our society. | Robert |
| with most processed food full of antibiotics and people being paranoid about not getting dirty no wonder this virus is having a ball and this dopy govt with its head up its backside saying they will eliminate it shows they are living in cookoo land so just open up nz and live with it as we all have to fall off the perch some time, even with out the virus some go early in life, such is nature. | Richard |
| The eventual Vaccine will diminish the prevalence of covid-19 but will not eliminate the disease, It will not differ in it’s success rate any more than the influenza vaccine has done with influenza. | Bruce |
| For a very factual and sensible look at Sweden go to https://youtu.be/8UvFhIFzaac . | Owen |
| But a vaccine still needs to be obtained | Frank |
| Hopefully there will be a vaccine to end the pandemic but this is far from certain. Steve Waterson has written an excellent piece and confirms my views on lockdowns. They aren’t going to achieve much at all. Until other stats are also published so we can compare what we are given for Covid I find it hard to believe the numbers we are told, feeling that there are other factors included in the Covid stats so as to prop up the draconian measures that Governments have taken.. | Helen |
| There needs to be a third option for “neither”. The vaccine will not end the pandemic, as the pandemic was used as an opportunity by the powers that be as a means of a shit test to see how much liberty they can strip away, how big they can grow the government and how much the people will put up with. The answer is – people are ready to live under complete authoritarian control without resistance and sacrifice the last three centuries worth of fight for freedom and liberty for that little bit of security. | Pavel |
| I believe a vaccine will help but like the flu vaccine will be far from 100% effective and may need to be repeated. It appear there may be treatments. | Chuck |
| I don’t see a vaccine working as it appears that we might have to have it annually,Cant see that working (We have a flu vaccination every year sars 2 is a dirivative of the annual flu) | Les |
| Pandemics don’t end. They just suspend | greg |
| Herd immunity is the only sensible way to go about this. Vaccines are uncertain and the Pharma industry will make billions of $$ My take is that is why they want to keep this whole show going. Keep people in fear and uncertainty and you can do whatever you want. | Michael |
| Maybe a vaccine will help control it but not eradicate it. | Chris |
| A vaccine will, in due course, help to keep those that have the flu jab ,like we do now with any other flu, more or less safe. | Ian |
| A vaccine will be a long time coming and there is no guarantee it will be effective anyway. We have to learn to manage the virus and protect the vulnerable as much as possible. | Virginia |
| Just a feeling, not really objective | Doug |
| I do not believe a vaccine will end the pandemic and I seriously doubt whether vaccines have been responsible for curing any illness at all. Covid-19 will fade into oblivion in less than six months, so we won’t even have to live with it. | Jude |
| We need to stop mucking about and just live with it! | Walnetta |
| Certainly in the short term we will have to live with Covid-19 and manage its spread to prevent the overflow of medical facilities.In time we could compare the number of lives saved from COVID19 vs the number of lives lost due to the implementation of lockdowns. It would be interesting! | Martin |
| Too many variants | Colin |
| The Government has no idea of how to implement the ‘end game’. Pre-treat all those vulnerable with low immunity, rest homes, returning immigrants then open the borders with compulsory quarantine. The pre-treatment is Pro. Borody triple drug regime (similar to Hydroxycholiquine ant-bacteria Zinc) – this stops the Covid spike entering the ACE2 receptor and is only effective PRIOR to entering hospital with a cytokine storm infection. Continue masks, hygiene and good tracing and Covid will die back (not out) as herd immunity takes hold – forget your vaccine jab until the rest of the world Guinea pigs have proved it safe – maybe two years time. This approach get the country back to production now – not in two years time – Rex | Rex |
| Covid-19 will not be the last virus to infect humans. A proper strategy to manage future pandemics is required and the clowns we have in government have not gort a clue or for that matter any credibility. | Richard |
| The virus will mutate and we need to live with it | john |
| Just like the Flu etc … we will need to manage it as best as possible | Kevin |
| Even a vaccine won’t be perfect and will take a long while to take effect. | Andrew |
| We need to learn ways to manage and live with Covid, and get our economy up and running without constant interruptions of level restrictions. | Cecilie |
| It would probably kill you, if the virus doesn’t!, | Raewyn |
| The virus is just a strain of the flu. No more virulent! Only the grossly excessive marketing, renaming and insistence on re-enforcing the marketing by wearing masks which is dangerous! We live with the common cold, even though we re-engineer the vaccine on a yearly basis. If we all just ignored it and got on with it, as many are actually doing under threat from Govt., then it would be indiscernible from last years flu outbreak. | Bruce C |
| We need HERD IMMUNITY so we can overcome this latest Chinese virus. Not a vaccine nor hiding from it. | Simon |
| Unfortunately a vaccine will not be available until later next year at the earliest and it will be impossible to vaccinate everyone. Result we will have to live with it. | David |
| Hoping for a vaccine and running the country in that way is a cop out. We pay our leaders to lead and that means making the hard decisions such as how to keep us safe while we re-join the world. | Tony |
| How many years will it take to wait for a vaccine that may never come? The country can’t afford to do that. We need to learn to live with the virus. | Daniel |
| Political parties need to show us their Covid-19 strategies. It is so important that we know they have a proper plan and are not just blundering through this because it is unlikely that a vaccine will rescue us. | Glenda |
| There have been no vaccines for the other coronaviruses – including the common cold. What makes people think they will be able to find one now? It is wishful thinking. We need to learn to live with this thing! | Russell |
| I would like to see the political parties set out their plans for if a vaccine becomes available and if not. We need to know what they have in store for us before we vote! | Simon |